This Comically Large, Road-Legal Bumper Car Is Actually a Rear-Engine Trike

The world would be a better place if we all drove full-size bumper cars.

Photo by: WNEP News

By: Christopher Smith

Jul 13, 2024 at 3:00pm ET

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No matter how old you get, bumper cars stay fun. Does that joy increase proportionally with the size of the car? There's at least one super-sized bumper car in the world to test that theory.

You'll find it in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Dan Hryhorcoff is a retired machine shop owner who needed a project to keep him occupied during the height of the COVID pandemic. So he utilized his fabrication expertise to build something truly creative—a ginormous bumper car.

Let's get the obvious questions out of the way. No, you can't bump it into other cars. Yes, it's road-legal. And yes, it steers like a real bumper car. That's because this is technically registered as a three-wheeled motorcycle. A 2007 Chevrolet Aveo donated its front clip, including the 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission. However, it's actually mounted at the back of the car.

A motorcycle fork with a single wheel is connected to the oversized steering wheel, but the tire reaches the ground nearly in the middle of the car versus the front. As a result, it turns just like a real bumper car, nearly spinning in place. How cool is that?

It looks like a real bumper car, too. That's because it's based on the 1953 Lusse Auto Skooter, the popular bumper car design still used in many amusement parks today. Hryhorcoff took measurements of the real deal, upsized the numbers, created a mold, and made the realistic body out of fiberglass. That's why you can't bump into other cars, as it would crack the body. Also, intentionally hitting cars on the road is a bit dangerous, never mind slightly illegal.

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Since it's road-legal, Hryhorcoff ventures out to car shows, coffee runs, and occasional drives with his unique machine. And though slow-speed collisions are decidedly off the table, looking and turning like a bumper car makes this one of the coolest custom projects we've seen in a long time.